Pubdate: Wed, 07 Jan 2004
Source: Comox Valley Record (CN BC)
Copyright: 2004 Comox Valley Record
Contact:  http://www.comoxvalleyrecord.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/784
Author: Christopher Foulds
Note: Christopher Foulds is a reporter with the Abbotsford News.

U.S. GETS ITS WAY AGAIN

Perhaps the most disconcerting aspect of the Supreme Court of Canada's 
recent 6-3 decision to uphold the laws prohibiting possession of marijuana 
is the reaction of John Walters, the United States' drug czar.

Walters was positively abuzz with excitement upon learning that Canada's 
top court had decided against ruling that the possession law was 
unconstitutional. This is, of course, not new.

When the federal Liberals had drafted a bill to decriminalize simple 
possession of pot, Martin Cauchon, then the justice minister, actually flew 
to Washington last spring to essentially obtain permission from U.S. 
Attorney General John Ashcroft to liberalize marijuana laws here.

That Cauchon presented the pot proposal to a foreign country before 
allowing Canada's own House of Commons to view it was astounding. That the 
issue didn't generate a wave of outrage among the public is even more 
appalling.

When Jean Chretien had introduced the original bill to decriminalize simple 
possession of pot - a bill that will be re-introduced next year in a much 
watered-down form - Walters and the Bush administration actually had the 
audacity to charge that Canada was mishandling its drug policy.

Such a charge is laughable, when one considers how corrupt and inept the 
U.S. war on drugs really is.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman